‘We were a sacrifice zone.’
Pollution
Posted inApril 2026: Inside the Attack on Public Lands
‘Just noticing birds improves your health’
#iamthewest: Giving voice to the people that make up communities in the region.
Posted inApril 2026: Inside the Attack on Public Lands
Wildfires transform soil, turning a nutrient into poisonous chromium-6
New research shows how severe blazes create a carcinogen and how long it might persist.
Posted inArticles
The public got one week to comment on Chaco Canyon drilling. It’s almost over
Indigenous leaders, New Mexico political leaders accuse feds of rushing a decision about the sacred site.
Posted inArticles
New nuclear safety rules reduce protections for workers, the public
‘They’re pulling away from what’s kept us safe all these years.’
Posted inArticles
War exposes the energy dominance lie
True energy independence comes from weaning ourselves from fossil fuels.
Posted inMarch 2026: The Uncertainty of Farming in the Colorado River Basin
How Montana tribes are using sovereignty to restore their waterways
‘We live at the backbone of the world, where the water begins.’
Posted inArticles
Trump’s EPA decided climate change doesn’t endanger public health. Evidence says otherwise.
Extreme heat, severe weather and air pollution are proven to cause negative health impacts.
Posted inArticles
New Mexico demands fix for federal nuclear waste management
The state will also fine the Department of Energy millions for violating groundwater standards.
Posted inArticles
The AI Age perpetuates fossil fuel burning
Ancient energy sources power the future.
Posted inArticles
An EPA proposal would make it harder for tribes to protect their water
The agency’s plan would narrow water quality reviews and eliminate one of the few ways that tribes can their enforce treaty rights.
Posted inArticles
‘We’re basically slitting our own throat’: Montana rolls back water-quality standards
The EPA approved Montana’s weaker standards for nutrient pollution during the government shutdown.
Posted inArticles
The aging Los Alamos lab at the center of America’s nuclear overhaul
Contamination incidents, work outages and declining infrastructure have plagued the site, but the lab remains the linchpin in an effort to modernize the nation’s nuclear weapons.
Posted inOctober 2025: Limits to Growth
In a changing Arctic, how much noise is too much?
Alaska’s bowhead whales can hear the climate changing. Scientists are listening in, too.
Posted inArticles
New Mexico’s billion-dollar orphaned oilfield problem
After oil companies go bust, the state is left paying to clean up abandoned wells, tanks, machinery and sludge pits.
Posted inArticles
An Oregon law tries to tackle garbage gases
Surveys of U.S. landfills showed emission rates were, on average, 40% higher than reported.
Posted inAugust 2025: Fire Culture
The West’s data centers suck (water and power)
From simple searches to chatGPT, the big digital buildup threatens the grid and water supplies.
Posted inArticles
Meet LA’s detective for dead marine mammals
A day in the life of a scientist studying the aftermath of the city’s deadly algal blooms.
Posted inJuly 2025: Seeds as Sustenance
First came the record-setting fire. Then came the record-setting floods.
‘I don’t trust the water:’ How post-fire flooding has destabilized a rural community’s drinking water.
Posted inArticles
Can fracking wastewater be reused?
New Mexico’s legislators are eager to repurpose “produced water,” but environmental organizations say that there is no safe way to do that.